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Christina In Red: Rare 1913 Color Photos Show How People Lived 100 Years Ago
Christina In Red: Rare 1913 Color Photos Show How People Lived 100 Years Ago
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Christina In Red: Rare 1913 Color Photos Show How People Lived 100 Years Ago

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We imagine the past in black-and-white, but Mervyn O’Gorman was taking colorful photos using glass plates coated in potato starch in 1913. The technical name for this process is autochrome, and O’Gorman used it to take beautiful photos of his daughter Christina wearing red in the British countryside. As the vintage photos contain little to give their era away, they seem to be from no specific period; in fact, they almost weren’t taken at all.

These historical photos and the technology behind them are both curious side projects, neither of them being the primary invention or occupation of their authors. Autochrome was patented in 1903 by the Lumiere Brothers in France, who were most famous for their work with cinema; Mervyn O’Gorman, the one who took these old photos, is best known as a motoring pioneer and one of the greatest British aeronautical engineers of his time.

Mervin died in 1958. No details remain of Christina’s life, but Mervin’s 1913 historical pictures remain a beautiful example of what can happen by accident.

(h/t: petapixel)

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    Dainius

    Dainius

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    Dainius

    Dainius

    Author, Community member

    This lazy panda forgot to write something about itself.

    What do you think ?
    Cookie
    Community Member
    10 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    No hair extensions, how refreshing.

    SusannaVesna
    Community Member
    10 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    These r beautiful photos, showing how natural & modest girls used 2b!

    SusannaVesna
    Community Member
    10 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I have a black&white photo of my great-great-great grandmother from 1907 Russian Empire! Ill never know the colour of her dress! :(

    DanielaBlueMoonBoal
    Community Member
    10 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I can't do it but maybe you can find someone to work on that photo for you. Search the internet, there are ways to find the colour in b/w

    Load More Replies...
    HarmlessHamster
    Community Member
    10 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    This is how women are supposed to look. Just give me a normal looking woman who is more interested in people than their iPhones.

    exilio
    Community Member
    10 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I'm doubting the authenticity of these photos...the poses and girls really seem too emo and thin...I don't think it's just the color.

    Daniel Dannen
    Community Member
    8 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    These are very famous photos, you idiot. Their authenticity is not in doubt.

    Load More Replies...
    SeanCormac
    Community Member
    10 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    i find it very hard to believe that these are genuinely that old. so many questionable aspects. styling? manicured lawn? hair style/time per

    MaxSteele
    Community Member
    6 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    This mystery was solved 3 years ago https://www.scienceandmediamuseum.org.uk/about-us/press-office/christina-mystery-beautiful-102-year-old-colour-portraits-solved

    René-FrankGranaada
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    wonderfull stuff.. cultural delicacy.. ;)

    MattNoel
    Community Member
    10 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    They don't look very happy.

    HarmlessHamster
    Community Member
    10 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    This is how women are supposed to look. When women go all out with fake stuff on and act like the horrid stars they emulate, it saddens me.

    Shreshtha
    Community Member
    10 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Unbelievable yet beautiful <3

    ElizabethMolloy
    Community Member
    10 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    They have a very Pre-Raphaelite feel to them. Beautiful!

    MartinaGoranova
    Community Member
    10 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    If you look into the camera, it will take your soul away!

    MartinaGoranova
    Community Member
    10 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    If you look into the camera it will take your soul away!

    exilio
    Community Member
    10 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I'm doubting the authenticity of these photos...the poses and girls really seem contemporary...I don't think it's just the color. Too emo?

    Daniel Dannen
    Community Member
    8 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Educate yourself, dummy. These are famous photos that were taken at the stated time.

    Load More Replies...
    JulieBraunscheidel
    Community Member
    10 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I don't think these pictures are real to clear and they definetly didn't have colored film!

    Simon Jones
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    The Shackleton expedition to the South Pole, departing in 1914, had colour film. The colour photos are available if you Google for it.

    Load More Replies...
    Rachel
    Community Member
    10 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Romantic and eerie. Beautiful and mysterious. I love them.

    Cookie
    Community Member
    10 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    No hair extensions, how refreshing.

    SusannaVesna
    Community Member
    10 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    These r beautiful photos, showing how natural & modest girls used 2b!

    SusannaVesna
    Community Member
    10 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I have a black&white photo of my great-great-great grandmother from 1907 Russian Empire! Ill never know the colour of her dress! :(

    DanielaBlueMoonBoal
    Community Member
    10 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I can't do it but maybe you can find someone to work on that photo for you. Search the internet, there are ways to find the colour in b/w

    Load More Replies...
    HarmlessHamster
    Community Member
    10 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    This is how women are supposed to look. Just give me a normal looking woman who is more interested in people than their iPhones.

    exilio
    Community Member
    10 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I'm doubting the authenticity of these photos...the poses and girls really seem too emo and thin...I don't think it's just the color.

    Daniel Dannen
    Community Member
    8 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    These are very famous photos, you idiot. Their authenticity is not in doubt.

    Load More Replies...
    SeanCormac
    Community Member
    10 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    i find it very hard to believe that these are genuinely that old. so many questionable aspects. styling? manicured lawn? hair style/time per

    MaxSteele
    Community Member
    6 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    This mystery was solved 3 years ago https://www.scienceandmediamuseum.org.uk/about-us/press-office/christina-mystery-beautiful-102-year-old-colour-portraits-solved

    René-FrankGranaada
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    wonderfull stuff.. cultural delicacy.. ;)

    MattNoel
    Community Member
    10 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    They don't look very happy.

    HarmlessHamster
    Community Member
    10 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    This is how women are supposed to look. When women go all out with fake stuff on and act like the horrid stars they emulate, it saddens me.

    Shreshtha
    Community Member
    10 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Unbelievable yet beautiful <3

    ElizabethMolloy
    Community Member
    10 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    They have a very Pre-Raphaelite feel to them. Beautiful!

    MartinaGoranova
    Community Member
    10 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    If you look into the camera, it will take your soul away!

    MartinaGoranova
    Community Member
    10 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    If you look into the camera it will take your soul away!

    exilio
    Community Member
    10 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I'm doubting the authenticity of these photos...the poses and girls really seem contemporary...I don't think it's just the color. Too emo?

    Daniel Dannen
    Community Member
    8 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Educate yourself, dummy. These are famous photos that were taken at the stated time.

    Load More Replies...
    JulieBraunscheidel
    Community Member
    10 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I don't think these pictures are real to clear and they definetly didn't have colored film!

    Simon Jones
    Community Member
    9 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    The Shackleton expedition to the South Pole, departing in 1914, had colour film. The colour photos are available if you Google for it.

    Load More Replies...
    Rachel
    Community Member
    10 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Romantic and eerie. Beautiful and mysterious. I love them.

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